


Sakura in the Spring

by SonjaJade



Category: Mushishi
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-15
Updated: 2012-06-15
Packaged: 2017-11-07 19:38:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/434632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginko returns to Adashino's village only to find he has one hell of a surprise waiting for him... or does he? GinkoxIo references the mushi 'imanin no hawai' and I probably have that spelled all kinds of wrong. First Mushishi fic reviews are helpful</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sakura in the Spring

***I down own the series Mushi-Shi or the characters within***

* * *

Ginko wandered down the hillside, inching ever closer to Adashino's village near the sea. Just as he caught his first good look at the gray-blue colored waters, he began to relive the last time he'd been here. He recalled parting with a few of his more memorable mushi mementos and other unique objects, chatting up the crazy old doctor, and getting thoroughly inebriated for the first time in many years. And that was just the first night he was there. He'd spent a week, somewhat resting and taking a bit of a respite from his endless wanderings, taking the time to don a yukata and let one of the village women repair his very worn modern style clothing. Ginko also took time to place an order for new clothes that would be ready for him by the next time he came around, also ordered new shoes and a winter coat. He knew he could trust Adashino to hold the items for him until he returned.

He smiled to himself as he saw the village's first hut after coming out of the lush green forest. Two nights before he'd left again, he'd gone to visit Io, and it was then that he finally rid the girl of her chastity. As a wanderer, unable to settle in any one place for very long because of the fact he was a self proclaimed "mushi magnet", Ginko owned very little in the way of material possessions. But his memories… all of his memories were held in his mind in sort of like a glass display case. Over the years he'd collected many memories of many different things, but the memories of Io, and of that night in particular, were his most treasured. While he couldn't remember what exactly had driven him to see her that night, he was glad he did, and he was glad that she was so receptive towards his unsure advances. Although, even now, he wasn't entirely sure he _loved_ her… Ginko knew she'd always have a special place in his heart, but to love her would make it hard to keep wandering. It would grow invisible roots that would make him want to stay, and he knew he couldn't do that; not just for his own sanity and safety, but for the entire village he would be residing in.

He shook his head, white hair shaggy and needing a trim (he would get that while he was here as well). _What will be, will be_ , he thought to himself. After all, that first oh-so-special night he'd spent with her wasn't planned either (however, the second night was), though he couldn't help wondering he there would be a repeat during this visit. He certainly hoped so.

The first villagers he encountered gave him a strange look and a secretive smile. He thought nothing of it, was used to strange looks from others with his unusual appearance of silvery white hair and a single emerald green eye. He made it to Adashino's house and found the doctor sitting with a large scroll on the engawa, lost in its content and not hearing the mushi master's approach.

"Oi, what do you have there?" Ginko called casually as he stopped to light another cigarette.

The doctor looked up, eyes widening to the point that his monocle plopped onto the parchment he was reading. "Ginko…"

Ginko furrowed his brow. "What's with everyone being so weird?" he asked as he removed his pack from his shoulders and sat down on the edge of the porch. "I'm used to that everywhere but here, what gives?"

Adashino shuffled the scroll off his lap, grinning strangely. "You have to go see Io."

Concern flashed across his face, then he resumed the same thoughtful look he always wore. "Why, is there some kind of after affect from the swamp?"

Adashino chuckled and then smiled brilliantly. "Not hardly. Rather, there's some kind of lingering after effect of the mushi master."

Ginko's mind froze. A thousand different possibilities raced through his mind, all of them involving mushi and the fact that not only was his body partially mushi, but she had once been partially made of mushi as well, and could possibly have hoarded some invisible kind of mushi still. His eye was wide as he stared past his friend, wheels turning in his mind trying to prepare himself for what could have possibly happened to her. "Is she… is she alright?"

"I think so," Adashino said as he rolled the scroll back up properly. "I'll accompany you. We should go right away."

Ginko shouldered his pack and kept pace with his friend, who seemed giddy with untold excitement. ' _What on earth could have happened to her? What could I have done to her?'_ he asked himself as they made their way to her small home overlooking the coast. When they caught sight of the house, there were quite a few people there, and Ginko heard his name in whispers as he and his friend moved through them to get find Io.

She was sitting out on her own porch, asking the people to go on back to what they were doing, and she smiled softly at Ginko when she caught his emerald gaze. The villagers all left, Adashino included, his parting words to his friend being, "Please be sure to come see me before you leave. If I'm not there, wait for me."

Once they were alone, he set the pack down and sat next to her, his hand finding hers as she placed a chaste kiss to his cheek. "Adashino tells me there's something different about you now, evidently something I caused." She nodded, her smile breaking open and revealing her pretty teeth. He sighed. "Tell me what's bothering you and I might be able to fix it. Although I have to admit, I'm not sure what kind of mushi I would have passed to you without knowing it first hand."

She laughed. "Is that what he told you?" The look on his face was somewhere between confused and relieved. He nodded. "Shame on that old man… making you worry that way." She stood and motioned for him to follow her. The house was dark, and it took his eye a moment to adjust. He watched as she went to her bed and knelt over something. When Io turned around, his jaw dropped, and his cigarette hit the floor.

"Ginko, I'd like you to meet our daughter, Sakura."

The infant in her arms had snow white fuzz on her head, chubby cheeks, and tiny and perfect little pink lips. Her eyes were two different colors, the right one the green of her father's, the left the brown of her mother's. She smiled and cooed at her mother's face, reached her tiny chubby hands for the loose strands her mother's hair. Io spoke to her softly and a happy laugh rang out in the otherwise silent house. Io looked up at Ginko.

"I named her Sakura because she was born on the day the trees were raining their blossoms down. That, and I felt it was appropriate to name her after a tree, as her father had been." The little girl then began to whine, and Io repositioned her in her arm, opening her yukata and gently easing a breast out to feed her.

Ginko couldn't breathe. Never once did he think this could have happened. Well, of course there was the possibility, but considering the physiological changes they'd both been through with the contact of the mushi, he really thought one or both of them would be sterile. But as he continued to gape at the infant his lover held, there could be no denying that the child was his. He'd only encountered one other whom he ever resembled, and that was Nui. Now there was Sakura… _his daughter_.

The invisible roots began to tangle themselves around his ankles, and he felt himself _yearning_ to be able to stay here, to marry Io and be a father to his daughter, to settle in one place and call it _home_ , to end the ceaseless wandering and searching, wanting for the first time to be able to find a way to end the way the mushi followed him everywhere, to find peace at last with a home and a family that loved him… Everything about this was breaking his heart.

He could no longer deny to himself what his feelings were about Io. He had known for a long time that he'd loved her, but he couldn't make himself recognize it for fear of being tied down. Now that Sakura was in the picture… it didn't matter that he was tied down. All that mattered to him now were these two in front of him.

Minutes ticked quietly by, the only sounds being Io's quiet voice as she spoke softly to Sakura, and the sound of content suckling as the baby fed. Ginko finally stepped forward slowly, as if approaching some skittish, rabid tiger. His hand came down gently on the girl's head, her wispy strands silky soft against his worn palms. He patted her lovingly as he wrapped his other arm around Io's back. "I didn't know…" he whispered.

"I know. It's alright."

"I won't leave you again."

"You know you can't do that," Io smiled. "It's alright, really."

"Io…" He wasn't sure what to say next. He wanted to assure her that he would find a way to care for them despite having to be separated from them for so long.

"Shh, I've been trying to get her to take a good nap all day, I think she's finally asleep." Io gently pulled her breast from the little girl's mouth as she laid her back into the bed. She tucked herself back into her yukata, Ginko blushing at the sight of her bared nipple before she quickly hid it away again. He remembered her breasts from before, and he never thought when he returned he would see them bared in _that_ way, the way a mother feeds her babies. "Would you like something to eat?" she asked as she padded back to his side.

His hand came to her cheek, and Io nuzzled into it, eyes closed, just feeling the warmth of his skin. Ginko moved to kiss her, and she accepted him by softly gripping the sides of his face. When they broke for air, he muttered, "I'm sorry."

Io giggled as she turned away from him, gathering items she needed to prepare a meal. "Sorry for what? For giving me a child that I adore? For proving to this village that I'm as normal as the next human woman? A woman capable of carrying and bearing a perfect little girl? Don't be sorry."

He tried to help her but she shooed him away, insisting he sit and enjoy some of the tea she brewed earlier. "Sorry for not being here, for not helping you when you needed me the most. I'm sorry I missed her birth… I'm sorry I can't stay for any longer than a month at a time…" He cradled his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Io."

She looked over her shoulder at him. "If it makes you feel better to say so, then I accept your apology, although I don't think it's necessary to apologize for things you can't help. Besides," she said as she turned back to the vegetables she was slicing, "I love you Ginko. I could forgive you for anything."

He was silent at her admission. He crawled over to the bed here his little girl lay sleeping, simply watching her as she slumbered, tiny and snuggled up in the blankets. "Sakura," he whispered, gently touching her cheek. "My daughter… _my… child…_ " He was in awe of her, and all she was doing was sleeping. "Io… she's absolutely beautiful."

"Yes, she is." Io wore a soft look. This was a day she longed for, and the reaction she hoped he would have. "When she wakes up, I'd like for you to hold her."

"Of course," he whispered.

They ate quietly, Ginko nearly silent out of shock rather than lack of things to talk about. Io loved to hear his stories and share his experiences with him, but she understood he was laden with a heavy surprise this evening, and so she didn't press him to speak. Mostly he asked her about Sakura, like how her development was, her first smile, her first laugh, and other firsts he'd missed. "Does she show any reaction to mushi?" he asked.

Io looked up at him. "She can definitely see them. I watched her as she followed one across the trunk of a tree one day. I'm sure it was a mushi she saw." Io gathered up their dishes as he lit a cigarette. It's strange though. There was another mushi master who came to visit Adashino about a month ago, and I asked him to see if he could verify that she could see them. He took her to the little glen just the other side of where the river empties out into the ocean, to that patch of harmless nakimoko. That master said that even though he knew there were several nests there, it was as if Sakura chased them away." She heard him grunt out of curiosity. "He said they would only get so close to them before they would run away, like she was repelling them."

Just then, a whine erupted from the bed, and Ginko gently pulled the blankets back on his little girl. After furrowing her little brows, a bright smile erupted on her face and a little shrieking giggle rang out. Ginko couldn't help the genuine smile that bloomed on his smoky lips. Io knelt down behind him and touched his shoulder. "You can pick her up, she won't break."

As if he were handling paper made of the thinnest glass, he lifted her to his shoulder, cradling her to his body. The little girl cooed and squealed, and Ginko just held her and loved her for the very first time. His heart was so full of joy, something he'd never felt before. Sure, he'd felt happy before, but this was beyond happiness. After a few minutes, Sakura started to squeal in a different way, and it was then that he first changed a diaper, under Io's supervision of course. She took her when he was finished and she opened her yukata again, peeling back the layer of linen to feed the girl, and Ginko could only stare at her.

"To think I used that part of your body for something so base as my own desires. This is a much nobler purpose."

Io smiled as she huffed through her nose. "I enjoyed it, don't ruin the memory of it. Sakura wouldn't be here if you hadn't given in to those baser desires anyway." She flashed him a dark look, "Perhaps after Sakura's gone to bed for the night you could indulge yourself again?"

Grinning around his cigarette, he replied, "I think I'd like that very much." He chuckled as he exhaled. "Forgive me if I don't… inside you… I don't think we need any more surprises." She nodded and watched as he got to his feet, stepping down into the genkan and slipping on his shoes. "I'll be back, I have something I need to discuss with Adashino."

He wandered down the strand of the beach for a moment, gazing up at the quarter moon, reflecting on the days events and feeling pretty pleased with the surprise he'd received. Pleased really wasn't the word, more like blessed; over the moon. Finally he made his way to his odd friend's house and found him just as he did when he first arrived: on the engawa with a lengthy and evidently most interesting scroll. "Nice night," he said as he approached.

Adashino looked up. "Indeed. What do you think of her?" he asked with a smile.

"Why didn't you write me?" Ginko inquired as he sat himself on the edge of the porch.

The doctor scratched his head. "I wasn't sure how to tell you for one… And I thought it best for you to see her in person." He shuffled the scroll off his lap. "Did Io tell you how she reacts to mushi?"

Ginko smiled. "Yes. A mushi repellant. Do you know what that means?"

The doctor's face softened into a grin. "You can stop wandering Ginko. Between the two of you, the mushi levels would remain normal."

"Or, when Sakura gets old enough, we could wander together. We could diagnose the problem, then she could simply remain until she naturally drove the mushi away. Imagine, no more radical actions to cure a mushi infestation, no more giving people medicines that are sometimes worse than the mushi itself… And no more killing the mushi. This little girl is all I've hoped for in my profession alone." He looked down at the cigarette in his hand. "I could stop smoking… I wouldn't need these all the time anymore."

"You would look strange without one," Adashino commented. "But more importantly, you'd have the love of a woman and a family that you always wanted, Ginko. If you can manage to stay here in the village, you could even have more children if you wanted."

Ginko had a dazed look on his face as his imagination wandered, picturing Io with an infant on her hip and Sakura and another child playing together on the shoreline. With this vision he felt an intense hunger that he'd never felt before… He didn't realize how _badly_ he wanted this, nor for how long he'd wanted it. He felt his heartbeat begin to race with excitement… With Sakura, his daughter, all this was finally possible. Ginko was jolted back to reality when his cigarette burned down to his fingertips. He cursed under his breath and then stomped the butt out with his shoe.

"Adashino… how would I go about marrying her? She's got no family, neither do I. I'm not exactly sure how a marriage would proceed under those circumstances."

The doctor rose, patted his friend on the back and turned to go inside. "I'll handle the details. And it gives me great joy to say this…" He looked at his friend over his shoulder. "Ginko, you should go _home._ "

The mushi master nodded with a smirk, and he walked back to the little house he was sharing with Io. He stood in the genkan for a moment, eying Io, who was humming a soft tune as she looked into a large basket where Sakura lay. When the young mother caught Ginko's eyes staring at her, she gave him a sweet smile that completely went through the man's soul, and he quickly moved from the genkan to her side, pulling gently at her obi as he kissed her soft pink lips.

The two of them wrestled for control of the kiss, and finally Io won out. Her yukata fell open as the sash that kept it closed was tugged away, and smoky hands coasted along satiny skin as they clambered into her bed. Using taste and touch, Ginko burned her into his mind, refreshed the memories of their first night together as he went, and whispered endearments to her that she'd never heard before. He unbuttoned his shirt for her, letting her figure out his trousers as he pulled the white oxford style shirt from his chest. When they were eventually both bare, he rolled her to her back and nipped at her neck as he reached down and pulled her leg over his hip. He bumped against her nether regions, poised for entry, and husked in the dimness, "Marry me, Io…"

The girl beneath him temporarily forgot how to breathe. She gaped at him with wide eyes and an expression caught between shock and fear. "Ginko…" she whispered. "A-are you sure?"

"More sure than I've ever been about anything." He brought his fingertips to her cheek and watched as Io's eyes fluttered at the feel of him there. "Say yes. Please…" He felt her slender hands come to both sides of his face, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Yes…"

He poured his heart and soul into his lovemaking, taking her to the edge of madness and flinging her into delirium over and over until he finally jumped into the white hot flare of bliss himself. And though he'd said he wasn't going to sow his seed, she had begged him otherwise at the last minute. Haunted by his mind's picture of the family by the sea, he obliged her, and afterward they fell into a tangled, sweaty sleep.

The next morning, he woke to find Io wearing his shirt and nursing Sakura. He watched lazily as she also managed to cook a pot of rice. He stretched and yawned quietly in the early gray of morning. She looked over her shoulder and smiled wide. Ginko crawled from the bed and gave her a kiss on the shoulder, then kissed Sakura's head. "Good morning," he murmured.

"Good morning indeed."

"So it wasn't a dream…" he mused with a grin.

"No, not unless you believe it was a dream come true." Io blushed adorably and Ginko nuzzled her face with his cheek before he rose to relieve his bladder. When he returned, Io had Sakura lying on her back far from the fire pit, he chubby baby hands gripping a toy rattle and drooling all over herself. He took the bowl of rice Io offered and they ate with little grins on their face as Sakura cooed and jabbered.

"You know," he said as he exhaled a puff of smoke, "I wasn't named after the gingko tree. I took this name after the mushi who made me this way, white headed and one eyed." He watched as Io's face fell, as if she'd done something wrong. "Don't worry, you didn't know. Besides, there isn't anything else she should be called. I love her name."

Her hand drifted to her belly. "And this one? If it's a girl what would you name her?"

His hand landed on top of hers, "We have plenty of time to figure that out. For now let's work on getting married."

She beamed at him. "Alright."

Days rolled by. Adashino had spoken with the village headman and gotten all the specifics squared away for Ginko and Io's union, and a humble wedding took place. In the weeks that followed, Ginko continued to make and sell medicines, but these were medicines for common illnesses, not much was sold in the way of mushi medication any longer. When he would receive word of a mushi problem, he and his family would pack up and go to the physical place of the infestation. Io would sit beside the patient while holding Sakura, and usually within minutes the patient was cured. What used to take Ginko weeks to cure now only took minutes because of his daughter's mushi repellant aura. They made money quickly and easily and were always able to return home and be a family. When Io's belly began to grow with the second child, Ginko began to ask that the patients come to him, if they were physically able to. If not, which wasn't very often, he'd pack up Sakura and take her with him, but only if he could set out and be back in one day.

One night as he sat with Sakura sleeping in his lap and his pregnant wife leaning into his arm, he said quietly, "What if I give it up? Do you think people would be disappointed in me if I did?"

Io patted her tummy as Ginko's fingers dragged through Sakura's wispy white hair. "I think we should do what is best for us as a family, and not give a damn about what the others think. It's not as if you don't want to help those with mushi ailments, it's just that other things are taking precedent now. And who could deny that you deserve such a reality after so many years of wandering restlessly. Anyone who doesn't understand doesn't have a heart." She leaned her head back and accepted his kiss.

"You always know how to put me at ease. Thank you, Io." He had his arm around her, his palm resting on the side of her taut stomach. As they continued to watch the ocean from their porch, he felt the child within her womb move for the first time. He gave a quiet gasp as he turned his gaze to her belly, and Io smiled. She covered his hand with hers and they just felt for a moment. "Is that how Sakura moved?" he asked.

"Yes, though she was much more feisty," Io giggled. "Maybe that means it's a boy." They both smiled, so very happy at what fortune they'd had in life with each other, and so very much in love.

* * *

"Papa, Mama hurt!" Sakura said as they sat outside their home, Io in the midst of her labor.

"Yes, I know. It'll be over soon though, and then you'll have a new brother or sister," Ginko said as he fought the urge to pace. "Are you excited?" he asked with a grin. He certainly was.

"Baby?" Sakura squealed. Ginko nodded and chuckled as she bounced up and down on his knee. "Baby! Baby!" She climbed up his chest a bit and kissed him. "Papa," she held her hands out as if she were asking a question, "baby?"

'Where's the baby?' his inner babble translator said. "It's coming right now, that's why Mama hurts. It has to come out of her belly."

Sakura's hands went to her own tummy. "Mama owie," she said as she rubbed just below her obi.

Ginko gathered her up as Io let loose with another scream. "Yep, Mama owie. Let's go count how many shells we find on the shore, alright?" His daughter gave a worried look towards the house, as if to say, 'But what about Mama?' "Don't worry, Mama will be just fine, and we can tell her all about the shells when we get back and see the baby okay?" This seemed to satisfy her and the two of them went down by the ocean, giving them both something to do besides sit and listen to Io wail with her childbirth.

Surprisingly enough, just being alone with his daughter and staying focused on distracting her was enough to distract him. They spent almost two hours there finding shells and crabs and other various creatures and things on the shore. When they returned, Io was still laboring, but the midwife's assistant informed them after about an hour that the baby was crowning and it wouldn't be much longer. As twilight descended upon them, the first cries of a newborn rang out from the house.

"Papa! Baby! Babybabybabybabybaaay-beeeee!" Sakura yelled loudly as she clapped her hands. Ginko gave her a wide and happy smile, so overjoyed at her loving and childlike enthusiasm. "Mama! Baby!" she squealed as she pulled at her father's fingers, trying to get him to go with her inside. He quickly grabbed her up and held her to his chest as he gave in to his urge to pace finally. Sakura was getting angry and she let him know it by throwing a fit right there outside the house.

"Hush, we have to wait until the midwife comes out," he said sternly, and the girl quieted some but didn't lose the displeased scowl on her face or the attitude in her little girl voice. After what seemed like a long time, but was probably only a half an hour, the midwife came outside and smiled at him.

"Io's doing fine, you both can come inside now. Be sure to keep Miss Sakura from bounding in too eagerly, she's very sore and tired." The older woman bowed to them both as her assistant scurried quickly from the house and bowed as she raced to catch up with her mentor.

Ginko gave Sakura a serious look. "Listen to me Sakura, Mama is hurting still, so you have to be very gentle with her, okay?" Her odd colored eyes lit up at finally being able to see her mother. "And we must be _very_ careful around the new baby. Can you promise to be a good girl?" She gave him a very exaggerated nod, and he grinned. "Alright then, let's go see them."

They stepped onto the engawa, walking in the opened door and shedding their zori in the genkan before stepping up and into the house. The door to their bedroom was cracked, and Ginko could see Io holding a bundle to her breast and he felt his knees threaten to buckle.

"Mama!" Sakura called out in a loud and happy voice, to which Ginko immediately shushed her. Nothing like an exuberant toddler to temper that feeling of walking on air… Io's tired face smiled in their direction as they entered the room quietly. Ginko knelt down beside his wife and held his first born in his arms as Io moved the swaddling back to reveal a red, smushed up face suckling hungrily at her breast.

"Isn't he precious?" she whispered. This child had the same white whorls of hair as his father and sister, but for the moment, both of his eyes were brown. Ginko reached a finger out to the tiny hand that was sprawled flat against his mother's skin, and it curled immediately around it.

"A son…" he breathed. He'd never imagined that he'd ever have any children, always being so careful with any woman he'd ever laid with (which there had only been three, including Io). Yet here he sat, holding one child and gazing at the other, both undeniably his, both made with a woman he'd built a life with, in a home that was stationary and made of rafters and boards, not a lantern and an old blanket under the stars and tree tops. This… This single moment where he and his family were one and were happy and all together… This made every step he'd taken on his many years long journey worth it. This righted every wrong in the world, this made every painful memory slip away, made everything _perfect_. His heart swelled and tears shimmered behind his eyes, wanting to fall, but he held them back fiercely.

"Baby boy?" Sakura asked, her face turning up to look at her father's.

He grinned down at her. "Yes, sweetie, you have a baby brother."

"A budder!" she said in a loud whisper, as if in awe.

"And what is 'budder's' name, my husband?" Io asked, her eyes droopy but smiling.

Ginko reached out and cupped her cheek, "I was thinking about naming him Shinji, does that sound alright to you?"

"Yes, it's a wonderful name." She looked down at the newborn in her arms. "Shinji is a fitting name. Can you say Shinji, Sakura?"

The little girl couldn't quite get the 'j' sound to work for her, so it kept coming out 'Shini'. They decided to let her call him simply ototou (something she was proud to demonstrate she could say) until her little girl mouth could handle his name. When Shinji was finished feeding, Io wrapped him up tightly in his blanket and passed him to Ginko, who was both excited and nervous to hold a brand new baby.

Though his wispy hair was white, he was the spitting image of his mother. The mushi master surveyed every detail of the child's face into memory, recorded his tiny grunts and coos and cherished the first time their eyes met. This time, when the tears came, he let them trail down his face. It was almost too much to bear, the way he felt like soaring to the heavens with nothing but a silly grin on his face and all this love in his heart.

"You did a beautiful job again, Io," he sniffled. He felt her warm and loving hands at his back, rubbing soothing circles as she made no attempt to stop the parade of tears that were making dark wet spots on his yukata.

"Papa owie?" Sakura asked as she carefully curled into her mother's other arm.

"No sweetie," she smiled, leaning down to kiss the moon colored locks of her daughter. "Papa's very, very happy."

Only about an hour or so later, everyone piled into the futon together to get some much needed sleep. Sakura slept on the outside, then Ginko, then Shinji, and lastly Io. Once Sakura was asleep, Ginko rolled to face his son. He watched the babe twitch, already dreaming, as he couldn't help simply staring at the child who was half of himself.

"You should rest, Ginko," Io said dreamily. "He'll be crying before you know it."

"I can't stop looking at him," he whispered. "It makes me regret my absence with Sakura even more."

"Think nothing of it. Once you've gone about a week without sleep you'll get over it, I promise," she grinned. He rose up and gave her a deep kiss, then pulled away.

"You sleep too, alright?"

"I will. Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight, Io."

* * *

The years slipped past him, not quite as fast as a blink, but certainly quicker than he'd hoped. One day he was holding Shinji like a glass flower in his arms, the next he was racing to catch up to him on the strand as they and Sakura played tag while Io looked on with another son at her breast. The next day that baby boy was playing with them and Io now held a dark headed baby on her hip, this one a girl. Before he knew it, Sakura had grown too old for tag and had taken up cooking and sewing by her mother's side, the boys had taken up fishing and gathering herbs and the youngest child tagged along wherever she could.

Ginko looked up one day to find Sakura walking slowly in the moonlight with a boy from the village, and it was then that he realized fifteen years had come and gone entirely too quickly. A blink later and he was witnessing her marriage to the young man, and three blinks later he watched his youngest daughter making the same vows to another village boy. A few moments later and he was sitting on the engawa of his home with his wife, her wrinkled hand in his, watching the tides, and the next moment he saw nothing but the blissful quiet of the midnight sky as his soul flew from his body. After that there was nothing but black all around, but he was peaceful and content, and when Io joined him at his side he was happy once again.

He opened his eyes, the oil in the lantern nearly out. The first thing he felt was the overwhelming want for a cigarette, but he brushed it aside. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up from the blanket that served as last night's bed. He hugged his knees, stretching his back and saying aloud to no one, "Kami, if none of my other dreams come true, let that one be the one that does." He looked down from the hillside into the sea fronted village below, the one where his precious Io lived. The mushi inside him raged and irritated him and infested his entire being now. The imanin no hawai raged the loudest, their feathery bird like wings still fanning the flames of the prophetic dream he'd just woken from.

'As soon as _that_ dream comes true, I'll start taking the medicine and smoking again,' he promised himself, watching as the sakura trees waved their pink blossoms in the light spring breeze. He gathered his belongings and began to trek down to find out if the mushi had done their job. Ginko was tired of travelling… He really hoped this time his prediction would be true.


End file.
